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that really random. do any other top end restaurants do this? i love eating on my own sometimes.

I had a tip from the maitre d' of a well known 2* who suggested that when booking, I should book a table for two, but turn up on my own. He suggested that a restaurant is less likely to accept a single diner, as hanging on for a couple would generally mean you'd achieve a larger spend (apparently I am an exception to this rule!).

Certainly if a restaurant refuses to accept bookings from a single diner then they deserve this approach. It's not like they can turn you away.

book for two then the day before or that morning phone & say your guest has swine flu/broken leg/broken heart and can't make it & ask if its still ok to come - be prepared to cry if necessary "but heston is my life/life won't be complete without etc etc" sort of thing
or try booking with a celeb name saying you're incognito
or that you ferran adria's young/older/long lost brother etc.
or just book for two & have both meals

if you really want in - i'm sure you'll find a way (if only el bulli was this easy...)

book for two then the day before or that morning phone & say your guest has swine flu/broken leg/broken heart and can't make it & ask if its still ok to come - be prepared to cry if necessary "but heston is my life/life won't be complete without etc etc" sort of thingor try booking with a celeb name saying you're incognitoor that you ferran adria's young/older/long lost brother etc.or just book for two & have both meals

if you really want in - i'm sure you'll find a way (if only el bulli was this easy...)

book for two then the day before or that morning phone & say your guest has swine flu/broken leg/broken heart and can't make it & ask if its still ok to come - be prepared to cry if necessary "but heston is my life/life won't be complete without etc etc" sort of thingor try booking with a celeb name saying you're incognitoor that you ferran adria's young/older/long lost brother etc.or just book for two & have both meals

if you really want in - i'm sure you'll find a way (if only el bulli was this easy...)

Never mind that, say your guest has the norovirus or is an environmantal health officer

Strange. I have been there on my own and there was no problem at all. Wonder why this approach would have changed. Dining on my own, based on my wine choice I tend to have a higher bill than the couple next to me who just drink wines by the glass.

Reminds me of a restaurant in Germany where a few years ago I wanted to book a table for 3. I was told that they would only accept bookings in increments of 2, so either 2 or 4. Booking for 3 would mean that with their square tables one seat would remain empty.

whilst i suspect a call to them might elicit a positive response, i can see the restaurants point of view, they only have 44 covers (i think) given the fact that there is a large amount of fixed cost in the business 1:1 chef to punter iirc , if they were making the industry average 10% net profit the only c. the last 4 punters would be profit , the rest just goes to cover costs so it might seem petty but if they don't max out the place as often as they can, they'll lose money. or lose even more , as heston often says the FD itself doesn't make money due to the small number of covers and high fixed costs.

given some of the prices i 've seen there, i think they've had a good go! fundamentally it looks like a loss leader for the heston brand with the ratio of staff to punters and number of covers making decent profitability unlikely.

Still, when you compare prices at the fat duck compared to some of the places in Paris, it doesn't seem quite so bad! I expect they could happily charge £150+/head for the tasting menu and still be full every time, but I guess they don't want to alienate everyone.

The vomiting bug that forced the closure of Heston Blumenthal’s Fat Duck was caused by sewage-infested oysters and razor clams, according to an official report released today. ... An investigation by the Health Protection Agency found raw oysters had been contaminated with norovirus from infected sewage. Infected staff may also have passed on the virus to the 529 diners who fell victim. The restaurant closed for three weeks after the outbreak. ...

The chef and his team are criticised in the report for failing to notify environmental health officers about a problem when they first received complaints about diners falling ill in January. Instead they waited until February 24 before alerting the local authority. This delay complicated the subsequent investigation into the cause of the illness and scientists are now unable to establish the exact reason for the contamination.

Very interested to see how this all plays out, especially in relation to the month lag.

Not certain what there is to "play out" the HPA report wraps up the incident, lessons have been learned and remedial actions taken (and those were recommended by the HPA). A quick read of the report indicates the cause was the raw ingredients, there are some comments about the complexity of the prep potentially being a factor but it does have a clear statement that No breaches of hygiene standards were identified in the preparation processes as described by staff., it goes on to comment that alcohol gel isn't as effective as hand-washing and some staff may have still be contageous when they came back to work. The reports comment on the delay in notification to the HPA is from the 13/14th Feb to the 24th Feb, not as the newspaper report states mid January.

The local council, who is responsible for food safety in their area, has decided not to prosecute The Fat Duck. It appears from the press report that the"blame" lies with the supplier or the water company in Essex. Reading between the lines IMO this vindicates Heston's assertion that the report from the HPA was flawed i.e. it put too much emphasis in FD elements rather than the real problem contaminated raw ingredients. Although the Telegraph still highlights the D-list celbs who are milking the media attention and continue to talk about suing, I imagine their lawyers may well be pointing out that the councils decision not to sue weakens their case. Why don't they sue the supplier instead, but I wonder if the publicity for suing a small fish farm in Essex would be the same?

It seems only the Telegraph picked this up, strange given the breadth and depth of the publicity surrounding the original outbreak. Clearly good news doesn't sell newspapers.